If last week's dress rehearsal is anything to go by, Christopher Alden has done it again. His latest staging of La Périchole for New York City Opera is hijinks and hilarity. Having worked with Christopher on a number of pretty dark productions -- Aida (dark), Orfeo (super dark), and Clemenza di Tito (black as pitch) -- I didn't see this coming. But as it turns out, he's a comic genius.
Thankfully, Christopher had Kevin Burdette on hand to do a lot of the funny stuff. Burdette plays the (French-speaking) Viceroy of Peru and he is the living incarnation of Peter Sellers. In addition to being a first-rate opera singer, he's a professional clown. Not really. But he could be.
On the other hand, if you're a complete bummer like this person at the Associated Press who apparently ate worms for breakfast, maybe you shouldn't go. Alternately, you could trust the guy sitting next to me at the dress who whispered to his girlfriend halfway through the second act (I'm not making this up!) "I think I just peed my pants." You may pee yours. It's that good. Go. Go now.
